Reclining in his bed, Steven absentmindedly strummed his ukulele as he hummed a little tune to himself. It was a peaceful afternoon, to be sure. There were no missions to be run, Amethyst and Garnet were out on the beach somewhere, and Pearl was somewhere inside the temple. Even Connie was out of town. He sighed as he laid down his instrument. "Maybe I could go to the Big Donut and see how Sadie and Lars are doing."

The sound of the temple door opening caught his attention. "Oh, Pearl! Hey, Pearl!" He rapidly descended the ladder from his loft to greet the Gem.

"Oh! Hello, Steven," came her reply. "How are you?"

"A little bored, to be honest." A thought popped into his head, sparking a bit of curiosity. "Oh, wait! Pearl, can you tell me something about gem culture?"

Pearl's eyes lit up with excitement. "Oh, of course! What would you like to learn about?"

"Do gems like each other in the same way like humans do?"

"'Like'?" Pearl replied, somewhat confused. "What do you mean?"

"You know, like, romantically and stuff!"

This caught her a little off-guard. "W-well, in short, yes." She cleared her throat. "The human and gem cultures may be radically different in many respects, but love is one area where they are surprisingly similar." Much to her chagrin, Pearl's thoughts were already starting to wander to her teammate. She desperately hoped that her blush didn't show. If Steven found out, she'd never hear the end of it. "Basically, gems experience attraction in much the same way that humans do. Naturally, there are some subtle differences, but... Anyway, why do you ask?" She said apprehensively, drastically unprepared for what came next.

Steven, with a huge smile on his face, practically shouted at Pearl, "You have a crush on Garnet, don't you!?"

"W-what!?" Pearl's eyes widened in shock as she sputtered incoherently.

"I'll take that as a yes!"

"S-Steven, whatever would give you that idea?" Pearl laughed unconvincingly.

"You've been talking to her and staring at her and hanging out with her a lot recently." He replied, his tone matter-of-fact. "Also, you get really nervous and flustered whenever she asks you anything. I thought it was kinda obvious." He shrugged.

"Haha, r-really?" Pearl said, hopelessly trying to appear as casual as possible while in reality having the exact opposite effect.

"I mean, it's not hard to get why you like her!" Steven said. "I mean, she's strong, brave, caring, cool, really tall..." He gasped as an idea suddenly came to him. "Oh, you should totally go talk to her!"

"Absolutely not!" Pearl said in a distinctly non-casual manner.

"Aw! Well, if you're too shy, I can tell her for you!" He offered. "I think she's on the beach talking to Amethyst." He opened the door and ran outside.

"Steven, no!" She yelled after him, now in full panic mode. For a few seconds, she stood paralyzed, unsure of what to do, before she chased after him.

"What I'm saying is that you've been acting different lately." Garnet said to Amethyst. Even through her trademark stoicism, a trace of concern could be heard in her voice. "You haven't been yourself. I want you to know that you can talk to me."

Amethyst kept her gaze focused on the setting sun, avoiding eye contact. "Really, G, I'm fine." She sighed.

"Hold on, someone's coming." Garnet pointed towards the house. Two figures were rapidly approaching.

"Hey, it's Steven!" Amethyst said. "And Pearl's chasing him? Oh man, this is gonna be good!"

"Garnet, Garnet!" He called out as he ran, breathing heavily. Pearl was gaining on him now, but he reached the other gems first. He spoke as quickly as he could, "Garnet! Pearl has a crush on you but she's too scared to ask you out and you guys would be really cute together and-" he stopped when Pearl frantically threw her hand over his mouth.

"What!?" Amethyst exclaimed.

"Steven, no!" Pearl said, shaking.

"Steven." Garnet responded calmly. "You really shouldn't tell peoples' secrets like this without their permission."

Steven removed Pearl's hand and noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye. "Wait, Amethyst? Where are you going?" He ran after her, back towards the house, leaving Pearl and Garnet alone.

"Garnet, I-I..." Pearl could already feel her eyes welling up. She must think I'm absolutely pathetic, she thought to herself.

"It's alright, Pearl." Garnet placed a hand on her friend's shoulder and smiled gently. "I already knew."

Pearl could only look downwards. She noted her tears already splashing onto the sand. "So..."

Garnet shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't see you in the same way." She tipped Pearl's head upwards until they were looking each other in the eyes. "But you're still the best teammate one could ask for. I care about you very much; I want you to know that."

Pearl had no more words to say. She brought her friend into a tight embrace and now wept openly.

"Amethyst, wait!" Steven's legs were burning, but he kept running to keep pace with the gem. "Where are you going?"

Amethyst tore through the front door to the house and back to the temple door. "Go away!"

Steven didn't heed her. Just as he could see the temple door starting to close, he put in one last burst of energy, stretching his arm out in front of him. The sides of the door stopped as they came into contact with Steven's arm, allowing him to force it open once again and follow inside.

Now that he was inside Amethyst's room, Steven walked more slowly, catching his breath. Towers of rubbish, furniture, broken appliances, and assorted knick-knacks, stretching to the ceiling, gave the chamber an imposing atmosphere, one that did not escape Steven as he walked through them, staring up at their considerable altitudes. He moved his gaze back downward, and it was not long before he found Amethyst.

She was lying face-down on a beat-up floral print couch, trembling slightly with ragged breaths. "Please go away..." She spoke hardly above a whisper.

"Amethyst, are you okay?" Steven asked with caution.

"Do I look like I'm okay?" Her voice cracked as she responded and turned around to face Steven. Her disordered hair clung to the side of her already tear-stained face. She began to raise her voice. "First you break my heart and then you come in here to mock me?"

"Hey, I'm not trying to do anything like that!" he replied with a touch of indignation. Softening his tone, he continued, "Wait, break your heart?"

Amethyst also lowered her volume. "It's bad enough crushing on someone like Pearl. I mean, I guess I already knew I didn't have a chance with her, but hearing that she's got a thing for Garnet too?" She fell back onto the couch with a sigh. "It feels like a slap to the face."

Steven was curious now. "Wait, you like Pearl?"

"Of course I do!" Amethyst snapped. "She's graceful, kind, beautiful, intelligent... Everything I could never be."

Steven gasped. "But you are all of those things! Well, maybe not too graceful, but still!" He said. "Wait, but if you like Pearl, why are you always teasing and making fun of her?"

"Well, I... ugh, I don't know!" She shook her head. "Look, it's complicated, alright?

"If you say so."

Neither of them spoke for a while.

"I think I'm gonna go." Steven broke the silence. "I'm sorry, Amethyst." He started walking towards the exit.

"Wait, Steven!" Amethyst called to him. "I'm sorry too."

Steven smiled gently, then turned around and continued on his way.

Author's note: Author's note: I'm not a huge fan of having the author's note tacked on to the rest of the story like this, but ehh. It'll do for now.

First off, thank you all so much for your interest and support! I was not expecting this kind of response, especially for my first fic. I'll be sure to keep it up for you guys! My schedule isn't really fixed (this is just a little hobby of mine, after all), but in general you can probably expect updates every week or so.

If any of you guys have constructive criticism on my writing style or characterization or any other suggestions, I would love to hear them! If not, I hope you enjoy the story anyway. I'm having a lot of fun with it.